When Daft Punk announced they were releasing a new album eight years after 2005's Human After All, fans were starved for new material. The Tron: Legacy score indulged the duo's sci-fi fantasies but didn't offer much in the way of catchy songs, so when Random Access Memories' extensive publicity campaign featured tantalizing clips of a new single, "Get Lucky," their fan base exploded. But when the album finally arrived, that hugely hyped single was buried far down its track list, emphasizing that most of these songs are very much not like "Get Lucky" -- or a lot of the pair's previous music, at least on the surface. The album isn't much like 2010s EDM, either. Instead, Daft Punk separate themselves from most contemporary electronic music and how it's made, enlisting some of their biggest influences to help them get the sounds they needed without samples. On Homework's "Teachers," they reverently name-checked a massive list of musicians and producers. Here, they place themselves on equal footing with disco masterminds Nile Rodgers and Giorgio Moroder, who shares his thoughts on making music with wild guitar and synth solos trailing behind him on one of RAM's definitive moments, "Giorgio by Moroder." Elsewhere, Daft Punk celebrate their close relationship with indie music on the lovely "Doin' It Right," which makes the most of Panda Bear's boyish vocals, and on the Julian Casablancas cameo "Instant Crush," which is only slightly more electronic than the Strokes' Comedown Machine. And of course, Pharrell Williams is the avatar of their dancefloor mastery on the sweaty disco of "Lose Yourself to Dance" and "Get Lucky," which is so suave that it couldn't help but be an instant classic, albeit a somewhat nostalgic one. "Memories" is the album's keyword: As Daft Punk celebrate the late '70s and early '80s with deluxe homages like "Give Life Back to Music" -- one of several terrific showcases for Rodgers -- and the spot-on soft rock of the Todd Edwards collaboration "Fragments of Time," they tap into the wonder and excitement in that era's music. A particularly brilliant example is "Touch," where singer/songwriter Paul Williams conflates his work in Phantom of the Paradise and The Muppet Movie in the song's mystique, charm, and unabashed emotions. Daft Punk have never shied away from "uncool" influences or sentimentality, and both are on full display throughout Random Access Memories. It's the kind of grand, album rock statement that listeners of the '70s and '80s would have spent weeks or months dissecting and absorbing -- the ambition of Steely Dan, Alan Parsons, and Pink Floyd are as vital to the album as any of the duo's collaborators. For the casual Daft Punk fan, this album might be harder to love than "Get Lucky" hinted; it might be too nostalgic, too overblown, a shirking of the group's duty to rescue dance music from the Young Turks who cropped up in their absence. But Random Access Memories is also Daft Punk's most personal work, and richly rewarding for listeners willing to spend time with it.© Heather Phares /TiVo

All tracks are in 24/88.2 excepted the track 4 from disc 2 "Infiniting Repeating (2013 demo)" which is in 24/44.1.Two years after Daft Punk's split in February 2021, comes a reissue of their decade-old final album Random Access Memories in a deluxe version with a nine-track disc bringing together studio outtakes, demos and unreleased tracks. Included are "Horizon" (a ballad released only in the Japanese version at the time), two minutes of vocoder testing by Pharrell Williams for "Lose Yourself to Dance," and two unreleased tracks: "Prime (2012 Unfinished)," which didn't make it to original release, and the soulful "Infinity Repeating (2013 Demo)" featuring Julian Casablancas and The Voidz. (Casablancas would end up on RAM with "Instant Crush.") There's also the delightful "The Writing of Fragments of Time," an eight-minute behind-the-scenes track which puts us in the studio with Daft Punk and producer Todd Edwards as they discuss this "beach road" song, and create it all at once. Thirty-five minutes of bonus material ends with "Touch (2021 Epilogue)," the track composed with their idol Paul Williams, and chosen as the soundtrack for the band's farewell video in 2021. This is a deluxe version that is well worth chasing after. © Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz

Among the masterminds of this fifth album by Jessie Ware (UK), we notice the presence of Stuart Price, the legendary producer of Madonna's Confessions On A Dance Floor. A detail which speaks volumes about the general hue of the That! Feels Good! album, with its impeccable artistry and disco-funk rhythms which are as scintillating as they are dramatic. With her powerful voice, this new LGBTQ+ icon perfectly fulfils her role as a Diva, with the theme of freedom featuring highly on the album – that is, freedom as a political statement. In That! Feels Good !, she asserts that "pleasure is a right", using a rhythm that Prince certainly would have been proud of.  The same is true for the Free Yourself track, with the added bonus of strong piano notes typical of 90’s handbag house. With a singular blend of sophistication and assurance, Jessie Ware sweeps away all inhibitions, including sexual ones: we may feel somewhat uncomfortable by the eroticism of These Lips, while Shake The Bottle seemingly reveals the recipe for a successful orgasm. Euphoric and hedonistic, this album is also an ambiguous self-portrait, as evidenced in the Pearls track, in which Ware defines herself as a “lover, freak, and mother.” With nods to the 70s and references to the 90s, That! Feels Good! mixes many festive musical genres from the end of the 20th century, and sometimes even flirts with the pastiche. It is therefore more an album attuned to the nightclub scene, but that doesn’t take away its mischievous or glamourous side. © Nicolas Magenham/Qobuz

After performing his second-to-last selection, "White Light/White Heat," a tune by Lou Reed, the songwriter who most influenced Ziggy Stardust, David Bowie's enduring and indelible persona, Bowie dropped this little nugget on his fans (and bandmates): "Not only is it the last show of the tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do. Thank you." He then went into a magnificent version of "Rock & Roll Suicide," a song that gives a glimpse of where Bowie could have gone, not to suicide, but to the style of rock & roll that a long-term band can provide. Had Bowie kept the Spiders from Mars together, unique flashes like the version of "Let's Spend the Night Together" or the striking "All the Young Dudes" would have continued, a tight little rock & roll band providing a balance that dissipated when the artist branched out on his own. The other unnerving thing about this double-LP soundtrack of a concert taped in 1973 and finally released in 1982 is that there are bootlegs which have more to offer sonically. The thin recording is shameful: don't expect Pink Floyd's Delicate Sound of Thunder or even the Rolling Stones' wonderfully sludgy "Get Your Ya Ya's Out." The remix of this only official live album from the Ziggy Stardust shows is dreadful. Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture doesn't have the electric excitement of the Live in Santa Monica '72 boot, and that's the fault of the remix by Mike Moran, Bruce Tergeson, Tony Visconti, and Bowie. Another bootleg, David Bowie with the Spiders from Mars, London, July 3, 1973, is the exact same Ziggy performance, but it comes across better, much better. According to Pimm Jal de la Parra's book David Bowie: The Concert Tapes, the bootleg was issued from the ABC TV 1974 broadcast. The bootleg also has "Jean Genie and "Love Me Do," which feature Jeff Beck on guitar, Beck's performances being absent from the official RCA soundtrack release. The shame of it all is that this double disc was released after David Live and Stage, and while the upside is it makes for a rare, three double-live sets from one performer, the downside is that the best of those three albums has the worst mix on official record. Also, had RCA released the October 1, 1972 Boston Music Hall show -- which was brilliant, despite Bowie having a cold that night -- or this July 3, 1973 London Hammersmith Odeon program back in the day, it could have had an enormous effect on Bowie's career. At that point in time, the fans wanted more Ziggy, and the timing of this release only shows how important it is to get the material out while it's hot. Just ask Peter Frampton, Bob Seger, and the J. Geils Band, who solidified their audiences with double-live sets at crucial points in their careers. Nonetheless, everything here is essential David Bowie; it is a great performance, and you definitely need it for your Bowie collection. The only thing better would be Lou Reed himself finally releasing the September 1973 first gig of his Rock 'n' Roll Animal Band, which was, as they say, the real thing.© Joe Viglione /TiVo

When Daft Punk announced they were releasing a new album eight years after 2005's Human After All, fans were starved for new material. The Tron: Legacy score indulged the duo's sci-fi fantasies but didn't offer much in the way of catchy songs, so when Random Access Memories' extensive publicity campaign featured tantalizing clips of a new single, "Get Lucky," their fan base exploded. But when the album finally arrived, that hugely hyped single was buried far down its track list, emphasizing that most of these songs are very much not like "Get Lucky" -- or a lot of the pair's previous music, at least on the surface. The album isn't much like 2010s EDM, either. Instead, Daft Punk separate themselves from most contemporary electronic music and how it's made, enlisting some of their biggest influences to help them get the sounds they needed without samples. On Homework's "Teachers," they reverently name-checked a massive list of musicians and producers. Here, they place themselves on equal footing with disco masterminds Nile Rodgers and Giorgio Moroder, who shares his thoughts on making music with wild guitar and synth solos trailing behind him on one of RAM's definitive moments, "Giorgio by Moroder." Elsewhere, Daft Punk celebrate their close relationship with indie music on the lovely "Doin' It Right," which makes the most of Panda Bear's boyish vocals, and on the Julian Casablancas cameo "Instant Crush," which is only slightly more electronic than the Strokes' Comedown Machine. And of course, Pharrell Williams is the avatar of their dancefloor mastery on the sweaty disco of "Lose Yourself to Dance" and "Get Lucky," which is so suave that it couldn't help but be an instant classic, albeit a somewhat nostalgic one. "Memories" is the album's keyword: As Daft Punk celebrate the late '70s and early '80s with deluxe homages like "Give Life Back to Music" -- one of several terrific showcases for Rodgers -- and the spot-on soft rock of the Todd Edwards collaboration "Fragments of Time," they tap into the wonder and excitement in that era's music. A particularly brilliant example is "Touch," where singer/songwriter Paul Williams conflates his work in Phantom of the Paradise and The Muppet Movie in the song's mystique, charm, and unabashed emotions. Daft Punk have never shied away from "uncool" influences or sentimentality, and both are on full display throughout Random Access Memories. It's the kind of grand, album rock statement that listeners of the '70s and '80s would have spent weeks or months dissecting and absorbing -- the ambition of Steely Dan, Alan Parsons, and Pink Floyd are as vital to the album as any of the duo's collaborators. For the casual Daft Punk fan, this album might be harder to love than "Get Lucky" hinted; it might be too nostalgic, too overblown, a shirking of the group's duty to rescue dance music from the Young Turks who cropped up in their absence. But Random Access Memories is also Daft Punk's most personal work, and richly rewarding for listeners willing to spend time with it.© Heather Phares /TiVo

Borrowing heavily from Marc Bolan's glam rock and the future shock of A Clockwork Orange, David Bowie reached back to the heavy rock of The Man Who Sold the World for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Constructed as a loose concept album about an androgynous alien rock star named Ziggy Stardust, the story falls apart quickly, yet Bowie's fractured, paranoid lyrics are evocative of a decadent, decaying future, and the music echoes an apocalyptic, nuclear dread. Fleshing out the off-kilter metallic mix with fatter guitars, genuine pop songs, string sections, keyboards, and a cinematic flourish, Ziggy Stardust is a glitzy array of riffs, hooks, melodrama, and style and the logical culmination of glam. Mick Ronson plays with a maverick flair that invigorates rockers like "Suffragette City," "Moonage Daydream," and "Hang Onto Yourself," while "Lady Stardust," "Five Years," and "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" have a grand sense of staged drama previously unheard of in rock & roll. And that self-conscious sense of theater is part of the reason why Ziggy Stardust sounds so foreign. Bowie succeeds not in spite of his pretensions but because of them, and Ziggy Stardust -- familiar in structure, but alien in performance -- is the first time his vision and execution met in such a grand, sweeping fashion.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Borrowing heavily from Marc Bolan's glam rock and the future shock of A Clockwork Orange, David Bowie reached back to the heavy rock of The Man Who Sold the World for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Constructed as a loose concept album about an androgynous alien rock star named Ziggy Stardust, the story falls apart quickly, yet Bowie's fractured, paranoid lyrics are evocative of a decadent, decaying future, and the music echoes an apocalyptic, nuclear dread. Fleshing out the off-kilter metallic mix with fatter guitars, genuine pop songs, string sections, keyboards, and a cinematic flourish, Ziggy Stardust is a glitzy array of riffs, hooks, melodrama, and style and the logical culmination of glam. Mick Ronson plays with a maverick flair that invigorates rockers like "Suffragette City," "Moonage Daydream," and "Hang Onto Yourself," while "Lady Stardust," "Five Years," and "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" have a grand sense of staged drama previously unheard of in rock & roll. And that self-conscious sense of theater is part of the reason why Ziggy Stardust sounds so foreign. Bowie succeeds not in spite of his pretensions but because of them, and Ziggy Stardust -- familiar in structure, but alien in performance -- is the first time his vision and execution met in such a grand, sweeping fashion.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

With this CD, the young Canadian singer/pianist/arranger joins forces with producer Tommy LiPuma, who places his orchestral stamp on eight of the 13 tracks. It is the latest attempt to push Krall to an even wider pop/smooth jazz audience than she already enjoys. After all, Nat Cole, Wes Montgomery, and George Benson, among others, went this route. Wonder if she'd agree the cuts sans strings were more fun and challenging? Krall does get to it with central help from bassists John Clayton and Ben Wolfe, drummers Jeff Hamilton and Lewis Nash, and guitarist Russell Malone, all stellar players. Krall's voice is sweet and sexy. She's also flexible within her range and at times a bit kitschy, mostly the hopeless romantic. On this CD of love songs, it's clear she's cool but very much in love with this music. Bob Dorough's "Devil May Care" and the insistent "Best Thing for You" really click. Favorites are a decent Shearing-esque "Let's Fall in Love" with vibist Larry Bunker; a suave slow bossa on the opening number, "Let's Face the Music"; the lusher-than-lush title track; and especially an incredible horn-fired fanfare intro/outro on the hip "Pick Yourself Up." Some might call this fluff or mush, but it depends solely on your personal taste. This will certainly appeal to Krall's fans, lovers, and lovers at heart.© Michael G. Nastos /TiVo

On Be Yourself Tonight, Eurythmics' most commercially successful and hit-laden album, the duo meticulously blended the new wave electronic elements that dominated their previous sets with the harder straight-edged rock and soul that would dominate later sets to come up with a near-perfect pop album. This disc scored no less than four hit singles and kept them a mainstay on MTV's play lists during the channel's heyday. Fusing pop, soul, rock, electronic beats, and even gospel, this is arguably the duo's finest moment. The first hit, "Would I Lie to You," is a straight-forward rocker, complete with great guitar licks, a soulful horn section, and Annie Lennox sounding as vicious and vivacious as ever. The second single, which was a huge chart topper in Europe, "There Must Be an Angel," is nothing short of shimmering beauty, with Lennox providing truly angelic vocals and Stevie Wonder lending an enchanting harmonica solo. Aretha Franklin lends her powerhouse pipes for the duet "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves," which has gone on to become an immortal feminist anthem. From the soulful electronic beats (a rarity) in "It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back)" to the beauty of the Elvis Costello duet "Adrian" to the pain and longing of the sorrowful rocker "Better to Have Lost in Love (Than Never to Have Loved at All)," this album runs a wide array of musical styles, each song standing tall on its own two feet. This disc is, without a doubt, one of the best rock/pop albums from the 1980s and one of the grandest, most creative albums delivered by the ever-appealing and innovative duo of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. A true classic.© Jose Promis /TiVo

Joan Armatrading's eponymous third album is a charmer, almost single-handedly elevating her into the ranks of rock's leading female artists. Up to this point, Armatrading had shown that she had a lovely voice and an ear for interesting arrangements, but her work had been steeped in the folk idiom of the early '70s. Her third album changed all that, with producer Glyn Johns bringing in members of Gallagher & Lyle, Fairport Convention, and the Faces to punch up her folksy sound with elements of rock, country, and disco. The result is her most muscular music to date, with Armatrading adopting a swagger that showed her tales of unluckiness in love didn't have to have dire consequences ("Tall in the Saddle," "Water With the Wine"). Of course, it helped that the record featured her best material delivered in a wonderfully expressive voice that can capture the shades between song and speech like a sweeter version of Ian Anderson. "Down to Zero" (which features pedal steel guitarist B.J. Cole) and "Love and Affection" are the album's most memorable tracks, the latter breaking into the U.K.'s Top Ten (the album itself made the U.K. Top 20). But what endears this record to fans is the quality of each song; it wouldn't be fair to call anything here filler. The artsy and eclectic "Like Fire," the beautiful ballad "Save Me," and the ingratiating melodies of "Somebody Who Loves You" are just as likely to strike a chord with listeners as the better-known cuts. While Glyn Johns deserves credit for bringing Joan Armatrading's songs into a more flattering setting -- it's not coincidental that the record feels like a polished version of The Who by Numbers -- his real stroke of genius was letting the artist flower to her full potential. For many, this album remains the high point in her catalog. © Dave Connolly /TiVo

Of the many wonderful blaxpoitation soundtracks to emerge during the early '70s, Shaft certainly deserves mention as not only one of the most lasting but also one of the most successful. Isaac Hayes was undoubtedly one of the era's most accomplished soul artists, having helped elevate Stax to its esteemed status; therefore, his being chosen to score such a high-profile major-studio film shouldn't seem like a surprise. And with "Theme from Shaft," he delivered an anthem just as ambitious and revered as the film itself, a song that has only grown more treasured over the years, after having been an enormously popular hit at the time of its release. Besides this song, though, there aren't too many more radio-targeted moments here. "Soulsville" operates effectively as the sort of downtempo ballad Hayes was most known for, just as the almost 20-minute "Do Your Thing" showcased just how impressive the Bar-Kays had become, stretching the song to unseen limits with their inventive, funky jamming. For the most part, though, this double-LP features nothing but cinematic moments of instrumentation, composed and produced by Hayes while being performed by the Bar-Kays -- some downtempo, others quite jazzy, nothing too funky, though. Even if it's not quite as enjoyable as Curtis Mayfield's Superfly due to its emphasis on instrumentals, Shaft still remains a powerful record; one of Hayes' pinnacle moments for sure.© Jason Birchmeier /TiVo

The title Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones is slightly misleading, suggesting that Madonna topped the pop charts 50 times. The 50 Number Ones in the title of Finally Enough Love refer to the hits Madonna placed at the top of Billboard's dance charts, a chart she called home even longer than the pop charts themselves. The last time Madonna placed in the Billboard Top Ten was in 2012, when "Give Me All Your Luvin" peaked at ten, but she remained a dominant presence on the Dance charts into the 2020s, when "I Don't Search I Find" -- a single that lends this compilation its title phrase -- reached number one in 2020. Truth be told, Madonna had more than 50 dance chart-toppers -- "Causing a Commotion" is notable among the absences -- but it's difficult to find fault with a compilation this generous, particularly when it offers such revelations as well. Positioning Madonna as a dance artist helps emphasize her innovations while suggesting she remained a vital part of dance culture for decades. Viewing her through this prism naturally downplays her pop sensibilities and gift for sultry ballads, yet it still comes as a shock that the '80s hits are wrapped up in nine songs, while the '90s are concluded at the collection's 22nd track with "Beautiful Stranger." This means well over half of the collection is devoted to the 21st century, a period when Madonna was a superstar yet only occasionally in center stage. Effectively, this is the photo negative of Celebration, the 2009 album that contains all the pop radio staples: where that largely played for comfort, this is percolating and alive, with even the biggest hits being offered in alternate single or video edits or different mixes. The result is a compilation that pushes Madonna's artistry to the forefront, as it shows a musician who continually engages with fashions, trends, and innovations. Certainly, this doesn't tell the entirety of Madonna's story, but it's a crucial chapter to document and, fortunately, it's done so quite thoroughly here.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

In 2017, Gregory Porter released a tribute album - or rather a love letter, to the man he considers his ultimate hero: Nat King Cole. A remarkable musician who weaved his way between pure jazz and easy listening, an innovative and highly skilled pianist-virtuoso, and of course, a captivating singer/crooner with his deep, romantic and velvety voice that set him apart from everyone - this genius had never before been commemorated in so much style. In this live performance recorded on the prestigious stage of the Royal Albert Hall in London, Gregory Porter is supported by his trusty quartet (pianist Chip Crawford, bassist Jahmal Nichols, drummer Emanuel Harrold and saxophonist Tivon Pennicott) as well as by the 70 musicians of the London Studio Orchestra, conducted by Vince Mendoza. He features pieces that are closely associated with Nat King Cole (Mona Lisa, Nature Boy…) but also some of his own compositions ( Hey Laura, When Love Was King, Don’t Lose Your Steam…). Throughout One Night Only it is fascinating to see how Gregory Porter is just as comfortable when singing alongside the sophistication of the string section as he is in the rougher and groovier sequences. A vocal range that makes this show truly magical. © Clotilde Maréchal/Qobuz

The scion of a musical dynasty (his father was folk-singer Leon Bibb and his uncle was jazzman John Lewis), Eric Bibb released his first album almost 50 years ago. He grew up in the blues, but he has long been much, much more than simply a bluesman. He has travelled and lived extensively outside the United States, sought inspiration in African music, and refined his technique through contact with other styles and musicians. Dear America, released in the year of his 70th birthday, is a kind of return to his roots. This is a historian's album, which visits some tragic pages of Afro-American history in song. Musically, this is a record rooted in blues, soul and gospel choirs. These are genres so old and well-worn that one wonders how musicians can still draw life from them without falling into clichés. But Eric Bibb succeeds, and with young-at-heart verve, he transforms this return to the roots into an elixir of youth. He does not handle this old music like an antiques dealer, but like a craftsman or a sculptor who is perpetually dazzled by the forms that emerge from the raw material. The picking is soft, the tempo laid-back, and all the tracks here are bathed in a sober elegance. He moves from blues to acoustic soul or folk with a unique fluidity that he shares with his musicians, including drummer Steve Jordan, bassist Ron Carter, guitarist Eric Gales, singers Shaneeka Simon and Lisa Mills. This is an album of American music by a zen master of the form. © Stéphane Deschamps/Qobuz

Looking back on his career with and without Air, Nicolas Godin's beginnings as an architecture student become more and more apparent -- and not just because the first song he created, "Modulor Mix," was a tribute to Le Corbusier. A skilled use of structure and space is just as important to composing music as designing a building, and the weightless drift of his music is as much of a feat as a skyscraper that seems to defy gravity. Much like an architect, over the years Godin has built on his music's foundations while continuing to innovate. If Contrepoint's dazzling fusion of classical, jazz, Tropicalia, exotica, and left-field pop and the flawless '60s spy music homage of his Au Service de la France (A Very Secret Service) score felt like reactions to the iconic sound he crafted with Air, then Concrete and Glass is a welcome return to it. As its name suggests, Godin's second solo album is ultra-sleek and airy, in both senses of the word. With its vocodered vocals, spacey electronics, and a melody that flirts with several moods -- romance, loneliness, nostalgia -- without settling on any of them, "What Makes Me Think About You" harks all the way back to Moon Safari's "Remember." "The Border," an homage to Mies van der Rohe, recalls the spacious, late-night moods of Pocket Symphony. Godin even includes some of the whimsy that prevented his previous project from seeming too pretentious with "Turn Right Turn Left," a sci-fi pop duet with a route-finding app that makes navigating Los Angeles sound blissful. However, Concrete and Glass isn't a rehash of Air's music. It's often more streamlined, as on "Time on My Hands," a sculptural track featuring impassioned vocals by Kirin J Callinan. Godin's other collaborators also help distinguish the album from his prior work. Kadhja Bonet's elegant turn on "We Forgot Love" makes it easy to envision her singing it alone in a gorgeous but empty penthouse. Another highlight is "Catch Yourself Falling," a poppy collaboration with Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor that sounds so natural, it's surprising that he and Godin haven't worked together before. Though the closest Godin comes to the excitement of Contrepoint is the jazzy, suite-like finale "Cité Radieuse," Concrete and Glass is still a fine example of his distinctively smooth style. © Heather Phares /TiVo

The 1975 are back with their third studio album A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships. After a stint in rehab for frontman Matty Healy back in November/December, 2017, which helped him shake some drug problems, the four piece from Wilmslow are back to doing what they do best; making unique music with complex lyrics. So, what are The 1975 trying to tell us this time round?It doesn’t look like they’re overly bothered about being seen as a “cool” Indie Rock band anymore. They seem to have stepped out from behind this front to give us an album that focuses on sincerity and the role that the internet plays in our relationships. This message of sincerity is most clear on tracks such as Give Yourself A Try and Sincerity Is Scary which focus on overcoming identity problems (caused by people hiding behind social media) and giving an honest account of one’s self. One of the highlights of this album has to be Love It If We Made It, a track which takes a look at the political and social craziness of the time that we live in. “Modernity has failed us!” proclaims Healy. Speaking about the meaning of this song Healy stated “Love It If We Made it is the gem of hope amongst all of the rubble” ... “We have to really love each other, and if you don’t, just try.” The song that most clearly spells out the threat that the internet poses to our real, human relationships is The Man Who Married A Robot. Siri tells us the tale of a lonely man that became best friends with the internet and only existed online. Eventually the man dies, leaving no meaningful trace behind, but the internet lives on. There is something quite chilling about the story. Produced almost entirely by Healy and drummer George Daniel, the album also includes acoustic ballads such as Be My Mistake and Surrounded By Heads And Bodies as well as tracks with heavier production such as I Like America & America Likes Me. The boys close the album with I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes) which focuses on the struggles of everyday life and has a hint of the Oasis to it with a strong dash of melancholy. Insecurity, the increasing madness of the world, computer screen relationships, The 1975 bring it all together whilst appreciating that it isn’t always easy to be sincere. © Euan Decourt/Qobuz

Seven years after his last album, the acclaimed Wonder Where We Land (2016), SBTRKT returns unmasked. The British musician, whose father is Scottish and mother Indian, has chosen to fully embrace his identity and "reclaim his voice", which he feels has been somewhat suppressed recently. After launching into the stratosphere as a new British electronic music sensation, SBTRKT has taken up refuge in the studio, and spends his time lining up compositions one after the other. As a result, this album boasts a total of 22 tracks – although he actually sent 400 tracks to his label – and takes the form of a mix tape, complete with numerous interludes and short pieces of less than two minutes.And clearly, Aaron Jerome has decided to mock the established formats; an intention displayed quite clearly in the single L.F.O.. Jumping from one style to another in the middle of a song, launching UFOs like DON'T LET or YOU BROKE MY HEART BUT IMMA FIX IT, SBTRKT places himself somewhere between Kanye West and Aphex Twin, and makes the most, once again, of a well-stocked guest list. Here, we find the unmissable Sampha, the Californian Toro Y Moi, who brings a touch of psyche to an already very chill record, the trans activist Kai-Isaiah Jamal for a slam, but, above all, the London singer Leilah, who is the record’s ultimate revelation. She can be found on several other titles, including the jazzy/New Age FORWARD and the R&B-style DRIFT. It is one of the high points of an album that may not always seem accessible but on which SBTRKT seems completely liberated. © Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz

For his second solo album in a year -- not counting his excursion with Black Country Communion -- Joe Bonamassa, the hardest working blues-rock guitarist of the 21st century, strikes up a bit of a smoky Black Keys vibe, signaling that he’s not quite as devoted to the past as he may initially seem. It’s not the only trick he has up his sleeve, either. Appropriately enough for an album entitled Dust Bowl, Bonamassa kicks up some country dirt on this record, enlisting John Hiatt for a duet on the songwriter’s “Tennessee Plates” and bringing Vince Gill in to play on the lazy shuffle “Sweet Rowena.” These are accents to an album that otherwise sticks to Bonamassa’s strong suit of blues in the vein of Cream, Stevie Ray, and Gary Moore, but it’s just enough of a difference to give Dust Bowl a distinctive flavor and suggests that the guitarist’s constant work is pushing him to synthesize his clear influences into something that is uniquely his own. © Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Out of all of Madonna's albums, Like a Prayer is her most explicit attempt at a major artistic statement. Even though it is apparent that she is trying to make a "serious" album, the kaleidoscopic variety of pop styles on Like a Prayer is quite dazzling. Ranging from the deep funk of "Express Yourself" and "Keep It Together" to the haunting "Oh Father" and "Like a Prayer," Madonna displays a commanding sense of songcraft, making this her best and most consistent album.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo